Although the class uses sex as its main draw, the whole experience felt surprisingly meaningful and liberating.

It was a Tuesday night and I was locked in a room telling a stranger about my vagina.

To be clear, I was there by choice. I was attending a master class at The V. Club, a studio in New York City that offers courses on sex, relationships, wellness, and motherhood, and my instructor — a kind and knowledgeable woman named Maranda — was trying to help me improve my sex life by teaching me how to have a vaginal orgasm.

"We don't just want you to be having orgasms now," Maranda said to me by way of introduction. "We want you to be having orgasms until you're 90."

It's hard to find fault in that.

The "Ladies Come First" course manual.
Sara Hendricks

The course that I took — entitled "Ladies Come First" — is described on The V. Club website as a class that, among other things, focuses on unlocking "feminine power" and helping one achieve the "elusive" vaginal orgasm (AKA a G-spot orgasm).

The class is quite long (four hours in total) and can be taken in one sitting or two separate sessions. I chose the latter. Here's what I learned during my brief stint as a student of orgasms.

Achieving a vaginal orgasm starts with strengthening the pelvic floor.

During the first class, Maranda and I discussed our respective sex lives. She told me her whole sexual history — when she lost her virginity, how sex has been since, and, specifically, what kind of orgasms she'd been having. To my surprise, I found myself following suit.

We started off by defining what the pelvic floor is — a layer of muscles that help support one's internal organs. The pelvic floor is important because it relates directly to vaginal orgasms and overall reproductive health. It also weakens over time, particularly for women who have had children, which makes it harder to orgasm.

We then moved on to discussing kegels, an exercise in which you basically clench your vagina. Many people use kegels to strengthen their pelvic floor, but I soon learned they aren't that effective. Most women aren't taught to do them the right way, and even if they are done correctly, you have to do a ton of them in order to see any kind of result. Maranda likened them to trying to tone one's arms by lifting them up and down instead of using weights. It's possible to gain some muscle, but it's definitely not the most effective method.

Instead, Maranda recommended trying Ben Wa balls or something called a Yarlap, both of which are devices that can help tone pelvic floor muscles.

Shallow, slow sex positions are also helpful for vaginal orgasms.

The next week involved some more practical applications. When I arrived, there were yoga mats on the floor and a blow-up doll (male) propped up in the corner. The blow-up doll, I soon learned, was named Brian and would be used to demonstrate sex positions that supposedly stimulate vaginal orgasms.

Me with "Brian."
Sara Hendricks

The positions were all fairly simple adaptations of classic sex positions that most people have heard of — missionary, cowgirl, reverse cowgirl, and the like. The goal of all of them was slightly shallower and slower penetration, which helps stimulate the G-spot.

Learning how to execute sex positions while fully clothed and in front of someone you don't know that well sounds objectively terrible. But it wasn't. Yes, it felt slightly transgressive, but in a good way — like dishing about your crush at an eighth-grade sleepover. It was fun, and, like the previous week, I learned a lot.

Learning how to orgasm is surprisingly liberating on all fronts.

Courtney Cleman, the founder of The V. Club, said that she felt called to create it out of what she saw as a lack of available resources for women, particularly when it comes to their bodies.

"I found that there was no central place for women to gather and receive the support on love, sex, and wellness, including motherhood, that they deserve," she told INSIDER. "The main takeaway [of the studio] is the knowledge of how to connect with and take care of your female body so you feel your healthiest and most fulfilled."

This certainly rang true in the course I took. Although the class is marketed with sex and the vaginal orgasm as the main hooks, it doesn't dwell only on how to achieve the orgasm. Rather, it served (at least to me) as a way to think critically about your own sexual experiences, past and present, as well as a means of becoming more comfortable telling your partner what you actually want to do in bed.

The V. Club may not be for everyone — but it doesn't have to be.

That said, The V. Club isn't perfect. The class I took, at least, seemed to be geared exclusively towards women with vaginas who have sex with men, with little room for anyone else.

It also isn't exactly cheap to attend — most of the master classes that The V. Club offers will set you back about $160.

There is evidence, however, that these issues are being addressed. I had a chance to speak with a few of The V. Club's employees at the studio's opening, and they all seemed invested in making the courses more inclusive of non-straight, non-cis people as The V. Club expands. (It can also be argued, probably, that people who don't have sex with men may not need as much help attaining orgasm.)

The message of The V. Club seems to be ultimately more about self-acceptance than org ams.
Sara Hendricks

And, although the master classes are certainly pricey, The V. Club also offers "Chat Groups" (which are described as "informal, in-person chat group about love, sex and relationships") throughout the week that are priced at a more affordable $10 per session.

At the end of the day, it is exciting that a place like The V. Club exists at all. Spaces that are designed specifically for women are a rarity, and, when they do exist, they are either deemed frivolous and not taken seriously or faced with a kind of interrogation and criticism that seems to indicate that the particular space is expected to do and be everything for all women — which, ultimately, ends up being a disservice to women. For example, The Wing, an all-women coworking space, has been confronted with far more controversy than most other coworking spaces that aren't aimed towards women.

So, The V. Club probably isn't a place for every single woman in the world — but it doesn't have to be. And, in any case, it does offer quite a lot. In addition to "Ladies Come First," the boutique offers courses on dating, courses geared towards senior women, and courses that support mothers and pregnant people.

All of this means that The V. Club is, at the very least, an excellent springboard to help women have discussions about sex, pleasure, and their bodies without shame — and that, to me, feels like victory.

(And for all those wondering, no, I haven't had a vaginal orgasm. But I trust the process and assume that I will get there soon. Check back with me in a few weeks.)

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